tapper

1 of 2

noun (1)

tap·​per ˈta-pər 

plural tappers

1

: one who taps something or produces a tapping sound

a toe tapper

a pencil tapper

A low tap was heard at the room door. Mr. Bob Sawyer looked expressively at his friend, and bade the tapper come in …

—Charles Dickens

2

baseball : a lightly struck ground ball

… fielded a ninth-inning tapper…

—Peter Gammons

… scored the winning run on Tony Batista's weak but effective tapper over the mound.

—Gordon Edes

3

a

: a person who tap dances : tap dancer

The dancing on drums is remarkable, but the show-stealer is something called Sand Dance, which turns out to be just that: lanky tapper Guillem Alonso … steps and shuffles on a thin layer of sand.

—Gordon Cox

b

: tap shoe

… put on his tappers with a sparkling shoehorn …

—Michael Small

tapper

2 of 2

noun (2)

plural tappers

1

: one who extracts a fluid by tapping something

keg tappers

tree tappers

The state of Vermont is packed with maple trees and maple tappers and is famed for its maple syrup.

—Jamie Harrison and Shelley Boris

… set aside large areas of Brazilian rainforest as "extractive reserves," where rubber tappers, nut gatherers, and other local peoples can harvest renewable forest products.

—Environmental Defense Fund

also : something that is tapped to extract fluid

… Japanese maples are excellent tappers.

—Steven R. Lorton

2

: one who connects to something (such as a telephone line or radio signal) to obtain information surreptitiously

The Internet … has provided new frontiers for law enforcement tappers.

—John Schwartz

… hired a tapper to intercept telegraph messages in the Civil War.

—John Schwartz

Examples of tapper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Chico Mendes Environmental Photography Grant ($5,000) Chico Mendes by Miranda Smith Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper turned environmentalist, fought tirelessly to preserve the Amazon rainforest and the rights of local communities. —Photovogue, Vogue, 5 Sep. 2024

Kailey Dain lined a clean double to left-center to lead off the sixth, but McGinty (10-1) sandwiched two strikeouts around a tapper to the mound to preserve the shutout and lower her ERA to 0.66. —Jim Lindgren, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024

For example, state subsidies are boosting Amazon rubber tappers’ earnings, allowing some to potentially earn nearly 15,000 reais in a month, said Aurelio Diaz Herraiz, from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Amazonas state. —Andre Cabette Fabio, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Apr. 2024

Silva, the daughter of an Amazonian rubber tapper, is a bespectacled woman with an ethereal presence who has spent decades leading efforts to safeguard Brazil’s wilderness. —Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1810, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1